Climate Change Weekly #385
In less than a month, three separate reports have been released repeating the same half-truth: the costs of natural disasters are rising, setting records in recent years, and human-caused climate change is to blame. I say half-truth because it is also a half-lie.
Each of the studies received copious amounts of prominent coverage by the mainstream media. I suspect the timing of the releases and the coordinated coverage were not by coincidence. They were intended to gin up a steady drumbeat of support for radical climate action by the incoming Biden administration, with these studies intended to provide the new president’s climate team with justification and cover for a “great reset” type of takeover of the economy to save the world from apocalyptic climate change.
Governors Wind Energy Coalition
Why climate critics were sidelined in Trump’s final days Source: By Scott Waldman, E&E News reporter • Posted: Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Kelvin Droegemeier, who heads the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, removed two political appointees yesterday for trying to undermine climate science. Francis Chung/E&E News
A last-ditch effort by climate critics to cement their views in the public record fell apart yesterday after two of their own were summarily dismissed by White House officials.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) removed climate denialist David Legates yesterday after it was revealed that he attempted to publish cherry-picked and incomplete claims about global warming.
With Only a Week Left in Trump’s Presidency, a Last-Ditch Effort to Block Climate Action and Deny the Science
An EPA rule finalized Wednesday barred future regulation of greenhouse gases in “stationary sources” like oil refineries, and two administration scientists published climate science-denying papers.
January 14, 2021
Andrew Wheeler, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), testifies during a hearing titled Oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on May 20, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Al Drago / various sources / AFP) (Photo by AL DRAGO/Bloomberg/AFP via Getty Images)
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President Donald Trump’s appointees took their final shots at staving off future climate action this week, even as his presidency careered to an inglorious end with a second impeachment.
The Capitol Riot and Climate Disinformation
They’re more closely related than you might think
Jan. 13, 2021
sharp decline in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and a
2020 temperature record.
How the riot ties in with climate disinformation
By John Schwartz
Last week, a mob incited by President Trump stormed the United States Capitol building. Rioters broke windows, beat law enforcement officers, vandalized offices and tried to track down members of Congress with mayhem in mind. At least five people died.
For those of us who cover climate change for a living, the blatant lies about election fraud that fed the mob felt very familiar. A big part of our job is dealing with the disinformation that people and institutions spread to muddy the waters about climate change.
David Legates and Ryan Maue were dismissed from White House positions due to unauthorized involvement in producing papers bearing presidential seal that question climate science findings.